Method of and apparatus for communicating user related information using a wireless information device

ABSTRACT

A mobile telephone which can supply or post ‘pre-answer’ information which the device owner considers of relevance to a potential call recipient. This information enables a potential call recipient to be given useful information about a potential call before actually answering that call. The information is dynamic, unlike Caller ID information. Examples include: information about the subject of an intended voice call, a mood, a current activity, part or whole of a schedule of meetings or events, information about the urgency of an intended voice call, personal information, expected call duration, commercial inducements to a consumer to answer a call (special offers, loyalty points etc.), location information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a method of an apparatus for communicatinguser related information using a wireless information device. The term‘wireless information device’ used in this patent specification shouldbe expansively construed to cover any kind of device with one or two waycommunications capabilities and includes without limitation radiotelephones, smart phones, communicators, personal computers, computersand application specific devices. It includes devices able tocommunicate in any manner over any kind of network, such as GSM or UMTSmobile radio, Bluetooth, Internet etc.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Current generation wired and wireless telephones can indicate to acaller the status of a call recipient in only crude and potentiallyambiguous terms: for example, when a caller makes a voice call, he orshe might receive one of five different responses: (a) the desired callrecipient answers; (b) there is no answer; (c) there is an engaged tone;(d) the call gets put through to a pre-recorded voice mail message or(e) the call gets diverted to someone else. If the intended callrecipient does not actually answer the call, then the caller has no ideawhy the call was not answered: for example, is the intended recipient infact there but too busy to answer? Could a different number have beendialled to connect successfully?

Conventional so-called ‘Presence’ systems are the subject ofconsiderable interest at present and partly solve the above problems.The intent of Presence systems is to show the status of the prospectivecall recipient to a calling party—for example, giving information aboutwhether the intended call recipient is busy, in a meeting, contactableon a mobile phone or land line etc. Reference may be made to RFC 2778 ‘AModel for Presence and Instant Messaging’ February 2000, The InternetSociety. Prior art Presence systems have not however been extended tocover the idea of the calling party indicating its own status, such asthe subject of the intended call or its urgency. Reference may also bemade to conventional Instant Messaging (IM) systems, which allow a partyable to participate in IM to indicate its status by selecting apre-defined status flag (e.g. Out to Lunch; On-line etc.) Because thesestatus flags show merely the status of a party, they are aimed atinforming a party wishing to message that party whether doing so wouldbe appropriate, and are therefore similar to the conventional telephonyPresence systems described above.

Hence, both prior art IM and Presence systems share a presumption thatthe critical information to convey, prior to the main communicationcommencing, relates to the status of the entity which is the target ofcommunications (e.g. whether they are reachable and if so how). This isan essentially asymmetric weighting of significance and ignores entirelythe possibility that the person seeking to initiate communication (e.g.commence a voice call) can also provide the target (the call recipient)with useful information prior to the main communication commencing.

Caller ID systems partly address this: they enable a called party to seethe telephone number of the person calling. Caller ID systems areincreasingly popular, since knowing the identity of the caller can bevery pertinent to a decision to accept a call or not. Where the calledparty's device can store a database of numbers, the caller IDinformation can be matched against database entries, so that the calledparty's device can display the actual name of the person calling. At themost basic level, mobile telephone users use the caller ID to screentheir calls so that, based on a number of factors relating to themselves(i.e. location, current activity etc.), they can look at the caller IDand make a number of assumptions about the identity of the caller andthen take a decision regarding answering the call. However, users areincreasingly feeling compelled to answer calls simply because they knowthat the mobile telephone is with them no matter where they are. Usersare answering the mobile telephone even when it is not convenient forthem. They are now trying to take various steps to control the reactivebehaviours implicit with owning a mobile phone, despite the availabilityof Caller ID. For example:

-   -   Some buy two mobile telephones; one is for personal use, the        other for work.    -   Some are insisting that the phone is turned off outside of work        hours.    -   Some simply decide, based on the Caller ID, that if no name is        shown with the call—that the call is probably unimportant        because they don't recognise the number. Conversely others        interpret this same factor as indicating a potential emergency        call.        Hence, the inherent limitations of Caller ID seriously restrict        its practical utility.

There are many variants to conventional CallerID (e.g. EP 0641141, U.S.Pat. No. 5,907,604, EP 0869688), but all share the same basic approachof providing to the called party information which is essentiallypersistent (e.g. images of the caller, the caller's web page etc).Reference should however be made to EP 0802661, which shows the idea ofa caller inputting call subject information into a landline telephonehandset—this information is sent over the landline to the called partywhere it is displayed on a handset. The system is designed as anenhanced call screening system, in which a called party can decide toanswer a call only if the subject information is interesting orimportant enough.

Through the convergence of communications and computing, a newgeneration of intelligent communications devices, often referred to assmart phones or communicators, is being brought into being, utilisingoperating systems and related applications such as the Symbian OSplatform from Symbian Limited of the United Kingdom. Wirelessinformation devices based on the Symbian OS platform offer the promiseof being ‘smarter’ than current generation GSM phones in being able tooffer multiple advanced, robust client based applications. However,prior to the present invention, even these advanced wireless informationdevices would have been incapable of providing rich information (a)about the subject of a voice call to a call recipient prior to the voicecall being answered and also (b) about the status/mood of the callrecipient to the caller prior to the voice call being answered.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In a first aspect of the invention, there is a method of communicatingbetween wireless information devices in which:

-   -   (a) a caller using a first wireless information device enters or        selects information specific either (i) to the caller or (ii) to        an intended voice call to a potential called party, in either        case the information being of a transient or temporary kind; the        information being entered into the device or selected using the        device prior to dialling the voice call;    -   (b) presence data is generated for the potential called party;    -   (c) the presence data is received by the first device to provide        the caller with the presence data associated with the potential        called party; and    -   (d) the information is sent from the first device to a second        wireless information device used by the called party, in order        to provide that information to the called party prior to the        voice call being accepted, the ringing or other kind of voice        call alert accompanying the display of the information on the        second device.

The invention therefore envisages wireless information devices which cansupply or post ‘pre-answer’ information which the device owner considersof relevance to a potential call recipient. This information enables apotential call recipient to be given useful information about apotential call before actually answering that call. Examples of thekinds of ‘pre-answer’ information which a calling party can inputinclude without limitation the following: information about the subjectof an intended voice call, a mood, a current activity, part or whole ofa schedule of meetings or events, information about the urgency of anintended voice call, personal information, expected call duration,commercial inducements to a consumer to answer a call (special offers,loyalty points etc.), location information. The information must howeverbe dynamic (i.e. potentially variable) and hence does not coverpersistent information, such as conventional caller ID information.

In combination with this ‘pre-answer’ information, conventional Presencedata is also supplied. With Presence data, a caller is automaticallyprovided with Presence information relating to the called party prior toinitiating or starting a voice call with another person. Hence, thepresent invention covers the symmetric situation of, prior to a voicecall starting, a caller being given Presence information about thecalled party (‘pre-call information’) and the called party being givenPresence information about the calling party (‘pre-answer information’).

From an operator revenue perspective, allowing a calling party to enrichtheir communication with pre-answer information is more potent thanconventional Presence since a calling party can be expected to pay forthis additional data service. Conventional Presence systems requireinput from the call recipient and, arguably, will need to be paid for bythat call recipient and, as such, are likely to be difficult toestablish commercially. Revenue models based on the principle of the‘calling party pays’ have tended to be more successful than those inwhich the called party has to pay.

The format of the information can be text, or other media formats, suchas images (e.g. a digital picture of the calling party's currentlocation taken with a digital camera on the calling party's device),icons (e.g. heart icons as pre-answer information to a boyfriend); oranimated graphics (e.g. a Lara Croft cartoon figure; a personal avatar).A user could have several different sets of information which it selectsmanually or automatically depending on other data (e.g. the personcalled). Hence, a user could have one personal avatar figure for callingfriend, and a different one for calling family. Icons and graphics canbe selected from a menu of pre-stored options and may also be obtainedfrom a remote server, in the same way as ring tones are currentlydownloaded. Just as custom ring tones have been highly effective inenabling mass customisation of mobile telephones and have generatedsignificant and highly profitable revenue for network operators and ringtone suppliers, so can pre-answer icons and animated graphics.Pre-answer information may accompany or replace the call recipient'sring tone, in much the same way that caller ID does. It may relatespecifically to a call (e.g. the subject of the call) or be more general(e.g. a mood). The information will typically precede an intended voicecall, although the voice call itself may not occur for a variety ofreasons.

As noted above, in conventional Presence systems, information isgenerated for or posted by a person who may be called; this caninfluence and inform a caller making an outgoing call to that person asit can be read and used by that caller to assess the situation of theperson to be called. But the present invention goes beyond conventionalPresence because the information of relevance can also be posted by aperson doing the calling: it can influence and inform the personreceiving an incoming call as it can be used by that call recipient toassess the subject of the call, its urgency, the mood of the caller andany other item input by the caller which more fully defines the contextof the call. As will be described later, pre-call and pre-answerinformation can be generalised to a ‘Virtual Presence’, which can takethe form of a customisable virtual avatar and can also represent factsabout any user, i.e. both callers and targets, in any messaging context,and hence is not limited to use prior to a voice call. Hence, VirtualPresence could be used not only to enrich voice communication, but alsodata communication such as chat and instant messaging.

The present specification goes beyond conventional Presence bysuggesting new categories of information which can be posted/input (suchas moods and personal avatars) and new user interaction functions (suchas the ‘Convert to Text’, ‘Hold and Mute’, ‘Doodles’ and ‘EvolvIcons’described later). These innovations are independent of the insight ofproviding dynamic pre-answer information to a call recipient (e.g.defining the subject of an intended call). Hence, this specificationdiscloses multiple innovations which are not limited in theirapplication to circumstances where pre-answer is also used.

Scenarios

If we take a situation in which Alice knows Bob, Bob might post a ‘moodmessage’ saying “I need cheering up” on his device. Alice decides shewishes to call Bob; when she looks him up in the contacts managerapplication on her wireless information device, and selects a ‘makevoice call’ function, Alice's device initiates communication with Bob'sdevice. Prior to opening a voice channel, Bob's device returns as data(e.g. peer to peer SMS, Smart Message (a Nokia format) or data packetsuch as IPv6) his pre-call ‘mood message’, so that the message “I needcheering up” automatically appears on Alice's device. The device thenprompts her whether she wishes to proceed with the voice call and/orpost a responsive ‘mood message’. She decides to do both; first sheenters the message “I'll cheer you up Bob” and then initiates the voicecall. Bob's device shows the “I'll cheer you up Bob” pre-answer messagefrom Alice, so Bob immediately answers the call, already having apositive expectation about the likely social interaction with Alice.

Another situation might be that Bob posts a pre-call message saying“Anyone want to go to a cinema tonight?” on his wireless informationdevice. He makes that information available to anyone listed in a‘Friends’ category in his contacts database, held locally on his device.Alice decides co-incidentally to call Bob; Bob's device recognises Aliceas belonging to his ‘Friends’ class (e.g. through caller line ID, or aunique ID associated with Alice's device which Bob's device knows) andso automatically sends Alice's device the “Anyone want to go to a cinematonight?” data prior to initiating the voice call. Alice in fact wantsto have a long chat with someone tonight, and decides that Bob is notthe right person to call right now.

Bob might also post a pre-call message saying “Now in a meeting with myboss till 5 pm”. Then Alice, reading that information automaticallyprovided to her when she selects Bob's name in her telephoneapplication, can decide to not proceed with the voice call at that time.But perhaps if Alice knew Bob's boss, and wished to interrupt theirmeeting precisely so she could speak with both of them, she would callBob immediately.

Knowing the situation of a call recipient in this way also allows thecaller to override a call diversion function or call bar which has beenset by the required call recipient. Suppose Bob is in an importantmeeting and decides to divert all calls from his voice based wirelessinformation device to voice mail. Alice faces an emergency and mustreach Bob. Alice can see that Bob is in an important meeting from thepre-call information he has posted. But she can do one of two things toreach Bob despite Bob's attempt to remain uninterrupted. First, she cansend the pre-answer words ‘Emergency! Please answer’ to Bob's device,which can be programmed to beep or otherwise alert Bob when a messagecomes through with certain defined key words like ‘emergency’. Bob readsthat message and then immediately calls Alice. Or Alice could be givenby Bob rights to override his call diversion, which she can use at herdiscretion, with that discretion being exercised appropriately sinceAlice can see Bob's situation defining information. Override rights canbe given to close friends and family and also to emergency services.

As noted above, the subject of an intended telephone call can also bedefined by a caller as the pre-answer information. As an example, sayAlice and Bob have an argument. Bob might ordinarily try to call Alice,who would likely not answer. With the present system, Bob can open histelephone application on his device and choose Alice from his contactslist; instead of just dialling out immediately, the application canpresent an on-screen prompt to enter a subject for the call, anindication of its urgency and how long the caller thinks the call mightlast and to select a suitable graphic. Bob enters into the subject field‘I'm sorry’, indicates that its urgent and sets the call time tomaximum. He selects a heart graphic. Bob then initiates the call;Alice's device rings and she can see from a display on her device thatthe call is from Bob, the subject is “I'm sorry”, the time duration isset to maximum and there is a heart graphic. The expected time durationis represented by a clock icon (which can show one of several variants,for example, a ‘quick call’ icon, ‘long chat’ icon etc.), although theuser can alternatively just state in the subject field ‘Quick call’.Alice decides it's time to accept Bob's apology and answers the call.

As noted above, the pre-answer information may be sent as data prior toa voice channel being opened, for example as SMS data, a Smart Messageor packet data (e.g. in IPv6 or other packet based system. Theinformation is then displayed on the target device, together withvarious user prompts, including “Proceed with voice call?” and “Postreply message”. This data handshake can carry not only information whichAlice or Bob have themselves entered into their devices, but alsoinformation which the device itself is aware of and is automaticallyentered; location information is one example of this. This informationcan be thought of as being ‘implicitly entered’ by Bob or Alice andreferences to an entity entering information cover both explicit andimplicit entering; hence automatic entering of Bob's locationinformation is an example of Bob implicitly entering that information.The information must however be dynamic (i.e. potentially variable) andhence does not cover persistent information, such as conventional callerID information.

In another example, say Alice is already on a voice call to Sam; Bobselects Alice's name from his telephone application and a data handshakebetween Bob and Alice's device follows. This supplies to Bob's devicethe information that Alice is already making a voice call; if Bob hasappropriate access rights, his device is also informed that Alice istalking to Sam and prompts Bob to choose whether or not to interruptAlice and Sam to join their conversation.

In another implementation, the pre-call information is stored not onlyat a local device but is also posted to a remote web server, which acalling device may have access rights to poll. In essence, prior tomaking a voice call, a device connects first to the web server tocollect any pre-call information posted there. Similarly, pre-answerinformation can be posted to the remote web server and be downloaded bya target device. This approach may be particularly attractive in a VoIPsystem, since the web server could be integral to the VoIP network and aserver call is just part of the necessary voice call routing anyway.Further, holding pre-call and pre-answer data on a server (as opposed tokeeping it just on a client) allows the data to be seen by one partyeven when the other has a device which is out of coverage or off/busy.Conversely, where a GSM system is used for the voice call, then aseparate connection to a web server to download situation defininginformation is a considerable extra overhead and the peer to peer systembased on SMS or Smart Messaging is preferable.

An alert may be sent to a person when the information describing thesituation of another person alters in a way defined by the person. Forexample, Bob posts a pre-answer message “Please don't disturb” onto hisdevice which Alice then reads on her device when she selects Bob's namefrom her wireless information device's contacts manager just prior tomaking a voice call to him. Alice doesn't need to interrupt him. So sheprograms her device to alert her when Bob's “Please don't disturb”message is removed by Bob. When that happens, Alice is alerted and canproceed to make the call to Bob.

The following extension to the previously described ideas is also withinthe scope of the present invention: say Bob wishes to speak with Aliceabout going out tonight. Bob enters as pre-answer information thesubject line ‘Dinner tonight?’ and the quick call duration icon andinitiates the call to Alice. Alice is in an important meeting and hasset her device to flash an on-screen indication of the subject andcaller name of any callers; she sees Bob's name and his subject line.She decides she cannot take a voice call but can take a few moments tosend a text response. She then responds to the incoming call byselecting a ‘respond with text message?’ option, rather than an ‘acceptvoice call?’ option shown on her screen's device. She is then given afield into which she can type a message; that message is thentransferred as data to Bob's device for display on his screen. Bobresponds with his own reply and the data communication is thenterminated. The voice call part of the call has not in fact commenced atall—the communication has been handled entirely using text datatransfer.

In a second aspect, there is a wireless information device controlled bya calling party and programmed (i) to allow information to be enteredinto it, the information being of relevance to a call recipient withwhom the calling party wishes to communicate, and being of a kind whichvaries, and (ii) to transfer that information so that it can be read bya second wireless information device controlled by the call recipient;whereby the call recipient using the second device is automaticallyprovided with the information prior to answering or accepting a voicecall from the calling party.

In a third aspect, there is software for a wireless information devicewhich, when running on the device enables the device to perform as awireless information device as defined in the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is a method of generating revenues relating tothe use of an application on a wireless information device, in which thewireless information device is as defined above. Calling parties mighttherefore pay a flat fee (e.g. monthly or quarterly) to their wirelesscommunications provider in order to enjoy the functionality definedabove.

In a fifth aspect, there is a method of generating revenues in which acalling party pays to perform the inventive methods defined above.Calling parties might therefore use the functionality defined above on apay-as-you-go basis to their wireless communications provider.

In a sixth aspect, there is method of allowing a data file to bedownloaded, in which the data file is capable of being used asinformation which is (i) sent by a calling party to a call recipientprior to answering or accepting a voice call from the calling party, and(ii) is of relevance to the call recipient with whom the calling partywishes to communicate, the information being of a kind which varies. Thedata file can be an icon or animated graphic.

Further details of the invention are contained in the claims of thisspecification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described with reference to a project fromSymbian Limited of London, United Kingdom, called the Voice ++ project.The Voice ++ project has identified two key mechanisms for theenhancement of the mobile telephone experience, namely:

-   -   Virtual Presence    -   Asynchronous communication        Virtual Presence

Virtual Presence offers the user an opportunity to define a virtualidentity for themselves. Through customisation of their ‘look’ (i.e. howthey are perceived by another user) they can be more than just a list ofnumbers in someone else's Contacts list. Callers can see the target's(i.e. call recipient) Virtual Presence in their Contacts list. Targetscan see the caller's Virtual Presence. Expressing personality is initself a highly attractive feature for specific segments of the market,i.e. the Teens. However Virtual Presence is not simply staticinformation of a ‘look and feel’ nature. It shows not only the personalexpression of another user's identity but also has the potential to showa whole wealth of information about the user:

-   -   The user's Mood—(e.g. for a target: ‘Don't Disturb’, ‘Working’,        ‘Out Partying’, ‘Commuting’ etc.—these can encourage the caller        to either: call immediately, call later, send a text or voice        message, not call at all etc. For a caller: ‘Urgent! Please pick        up’ will encourage the target to pick up).    -   Their location—of varying granularity—i.e. ‘London N17’,        ‘Sainsbury's—Clapham’.    -   Phone Status—i.e. ‘Busy’, ‘Available’, ‘No/poor network        coverage’, ‘No battery’ etc.    -   Messages from the caller or target—‘Working from home’, ‘Out on        the town’, ‘Out of the office till 2 Feb. 2001’ etc.    -   PIM information—i.e. during the day, data available from the        Calendar application may indicate which meeting the caller or        target is currently in.    -   The preferred communication mechanism—as indicated implicitly or        explicitly through the Mood and caller Messages etc.    -   The Network Situation—i.e. Name of network operator, Call        charges at the intended time of the call etc.

With games and Third party applications the attractiveness andusefulness of such a Virtual Presence has the potential to expandgreatly.

The Detail

At its most basic level, Virtual Presence offers the caller informationabout the availability of the target. In turn the target may see morethan simply the name of the caller.

By putting his phone into a specific Mood, the target can specify theiravailability and therefore provide the caller with information about howthey would like to be contacted, i.e. ‘Only available for text chat’(this automatically suggests the use of text for communication), ‘By allmeans ring me’ etc. In addition, the status of the mobile itself canprovide the caller with information about whether now is a good time tocall, i.e. the mobile may be in ‘By all means call me’ Mood but thetarget is currently in a call. The caller may choose therefore toactivate Ring Back (See Ring Back Service Description) or simply tryagain in a few minutes. In this way the caller and target canautomatically exercise an element of control over the communicationswhich to date has not been possible.

Illustration:

By the target putting the phone into a “Don't Disturb” Mood, the callercan be prompted to send a voice or text message instead. Depending onhow the target has specified the behaviour of ‘Don't Disturb’ they mayreceive a prompt (a short vibration) that a message has been left, or noprompt at all in which case the next time they switch out of ‘Don'tDisturb’ Mood they will be notified that messages have been left forthem. NB: This should not be taken to mean that a Mood such as ‘Don'tDisturb’ would prevent calls being placed, rather it is simply the casethat the target is advising the caller to leave a message rather thancall. This degree of functionality alone provides a major part of thecontrol that users are looking for. Depending on the Mood settings theyuse, the target can leave the phone on, i.e. can use it for their ownpurposes but can ensure (assuming social protocols are followed—seeSocial Protocols discussion) that they are contactable as and when theywant to be and in the manner that they choose.

At the most basic level therefore, the mobile telephone can ship with asmall core set of Moods which the user can easily switch between much inthe same way as mobiles currently offer a core set of profiles which (inthe main) control the physical behaviour of the phone. Taken a stepfurther however the customisation of these Moods by the caller and alsothe target enables them to extend their Mood into a rich VirtualPresence rather like Avatars available on the Internet (i.e. withvariations of ring tones, graphics, animations, messages etc.) Bothparties can offer rich, dynamic and fun information. In the same waythat Ring Tones and graphics can be downloaded, supporting Avatar typedata could also be available. While it is suggested that the mobileships with a small core set of Moods, it is likely that users willdevelop several Moods with the same underlying preferences but whichdisplay quite different Moods, i.e. Meeting and Clubbing. In bothinstances the user might not want any communication other than text butthe information provided for the caller (or target) implies radicallydifferent states.

Users would likely be keen to provide a virtual representation ofthemselves. Behaviour on the Internet suggests that some segments willmake a great deal of effort in creating a Virtual Presence. While thisbehaviour is indeed PC based, in the main we can already see suchpersonalisation behaviour occurring in the mobile space too. Asdescribed above some segments of the market will go to great pains topersonalise their phone, with ring tones, hard covers and on screenpictures. Given an easy customisation environment some segments of themarket will extend this behaviour to the mobile virtual world. Users arealready using their mobile to make effective use of ‘Dead Time’ by thecreation of text messages and fiddling with settings. With appropriatefunctionality it is highly likely that the desire to ‘play’ with theirVirtual Presence will be equally attractive. This factor encourages thecreation of new Moods which not only provide users with a moremeaningful presence and greater control of their mobile but alsoinherently provides users with a far richer standard of Pre-call andPre-Answer information. Ultimately the Internet and mobile based Avatarswill probably merge and a user will have a Virtual Presence thecomplexity of which is purely dictated by the viewing device and itssettings.

Social Protocols

The value of Moods is to some extent dependent upon adherence to thesocial protocols that such a service implies (i.e. the need for thecaller to respect the Mood indicated by the target and to behaveaccordingly, and vice versa) These social protocols are already wellestablished in face to face communication: the demeanour of the targetcan be perceived and judgements made by the person about to initiate thecommunication as to whether or not now is a good time. These protocolsare recognised and as relationships get established people know theextent to which they can break these protocols. Moods simply provides asimilar degree of information in the virtual space.

The Avatars visible to the caller and target may in fact be tailored.Applications which can reflect the relationships with contactsfacilitate the development of emotional messages (See EvolvIcons ServiceDescription). Pre-call and pre-answer information can also grow as therelationship grows or could dictate that specific callers are alwayssent to VoiceMail. People customise their Instant Messaging presenceaccording to who can see that presence information and some people willspend time customising ring tones etc. for specific people. It ispredicted that, for key individuals in particular, users willpersonalise their Virtual Presence too.

Clearly there will be instances where it is desirable to over ride theMood specified by the target (i.e. in emergencies a caller may ignorethe request for text only and may still place a phone call.) It is notthe intention of Voice ++ to suggest that Moods are enforced: there arealways exceptions to the Moods and the target would be unwise to createa Mood which prevents an emergency call from reaching them. The Moodsare there as recommendations to the caller. And the target can alwaysmake use of features such as Hold (see later) to take back some of thecontrol. The extent to which the target insists that the Moods areadhered to is down to individual personality. It could for example beencouraged through the addition of a short message accompanying a Mood,(i.e. if in ‘Don't Disturb’ Mood, the target may also add a text messageas part of their Virtual Presence which says “and yes I do mean it

”), a message that everyone (or specific violators of the metaphor) see.

Asynchronous Communication

Users already engage in large amounts of asynchronous behaviour. Textmessaging is widely acknowledged as a major use of the mobile phone.Despite the tedious nature of inputting the text itself, users stillengage in brief, asynchronous chat. It is seen in use not only during‘Dead Time’ when a call is inappropriate or impossible but on occasionswhen an entire conversation is unnecessary or undesirable. Being able totransfer information at a point in time convenient to the user placesthe user back in control of their mobile. This chat takes a variety offorms being anything from inane chatter about what they are doing orhave done to the transfer of information i.e. a phone number, locationinstructions etc. to another person.

The spoken nature of voice messaging provides the user with an evenfaster means of having these asynchronous ‘chats’ with other people,although clearly there will be situations where text is stillpreferable. However, with the development of speech to text technology,voice messaging could at the very basic level simply be viewed as theinput mechanism, i.e. if the caller is in ‘Text Only’ Mood this messagecould be turned into text. Nuance and intonation forms a key part ofaural messages and this would be lost in current conversion techniques,therefore, forcing the conversion as part of a Mood may not bedesirable.

A key issue for the user experience in the creation of asynchronousdata, be it verbal or textual, is that it should not be tied to anyspecific application on the mobile. We naturally multi-task and thecreation of a ‘Doodle’ (see later) in one location on the mobile forexample should not prevent that easily becoming a text message.

What this Means for Voice ++

The following Services are of key importance in the fulfilment of theaspirations described above:

Virtual Presence:

-   -   Pre-Call—encompassing various elements including: Moods; Convert        To Text, Phone Status, Doodle, Information Management, Ring        Back, plus Avatar type data etc.    -   Pre-Answer—encompassing various elements including Moods;        Convert To Text, Doodle/Post, Information Management, Advanced        VoiceMail including: Call Screening, Pause/Play/Reply to        VoiceMail and Hold as well as Avatar type behaviour.

Asynchronous Communication:

-   -   Voice Messaging    -   Doodle.

These two areas satisfy the key requirement identified during the Voice++ research, namely enhancing the call experience such that the userperceives themselves to be in control of their mobile telephone.

Service Descriptions

The following Service Descriptions satisfy the key requirementidentified during the Voice ++ research namely the establishment of usercontrol over their mobile telephone. See Appendix A for all otherService Descriptions.

Pre-Call and Pre-Answer: General Points

Currently both the caller and target experience is quite impoverished.At best the caller can make suppositions about the availability of thetarget, i.e. “It's 9:30 am, they should be in the office by now”. Inthis instance, there is no way for the caller to determine the validityof their assumptions without actually placing the call. Similarly thetarget will at best be able to see the name and/or number of the personcalling. If the target can see the caller ID, they may try to base theirdecision of whether or not to accept the call on: possible reasons forthe call; the importance of the caller; guessing the call subjectmatter; their own convenience (amount of time they have to take thecall, where they are when they receive the call) etc.. Othercommunication types have richer information:

-   -   face to face    -   visual cues indicate physical availability of the individual and        their readiness to communicate;    -   written communication—while the immediacy of the communication        is removed and availability less of an issue, the user has        access to additional sources of information and, through its        asynchronous nature, has time to think about the communication.

Pre-call and pre-answer offer respectively the caller and the target theopportunity to have a far richer call experience, enabling them to makeinformed decisions when making and taking calls. In some cases it mayeven alter the communication, replacing it with alternatives or stoppingit altogether at that time.

Pre-Call

Current Stories:

-   -   1. Helen is about to leave the office and wants to call Steve        and to tell him that the plans for the evening have changed and        to ask him what time he will be able to meet her. She selects        Steve from her contact list and initiates the call. Steve is in        a meeting and has switched his mobile to Silent mode. Helen is        bumped to VoiceMail and has to leave a message asking Steve to        call her when he has a minute.

Pre-Call means that when about to make a call the caller can see theVirtual Presence of the target. Steve could have put his mobile into“Text Me” Mood and Helen would have seen this and contacted himappropriately, getting a response to her question without significantinterruption to his meeting.

Pre-Call may include any of the following types of information inaddition to the fun, Avatar type visualisation discussed in previoussection.

Availability Information:

-   -   Mood Status of the target—i.e. ‘Don't Disturb’, ‘Working’, ‘Out        Partying’, ‘Commuting’ etc.—these can encourage the caller to        either: call immediately, call later, send a text or voice        message, not call at all etc.

Location Status—of varying granularity—i.e. ‘London N17’,‘Sainsbury's—Clapham’.

Phone Status—i.e. ‘Busy’, ‘Available’, ‘No/poor network coverage’, ‘Nobattery’ etc.

Target Messages—‘Working from home’, ‘Out on the town’, ‘Out of theoffice till 2 Feb. 2001’ etc.

PIM information—i.e. during the day data available from the Calendarapplication may indicate which meeting the target is currently in.

In addition the caller may also see information from their own devicepertaining to the call. Supporting information:

-   -   Doodles—written by the caller on a previous occasion regarding        this caller, i.e. ‘Remember to ask x’ etc. or taken dynamically        from the Calendar application i.e. ‘Daughter's birthday on        February 22.’ (See Doodles Service Description).    -   View previous communications with the target (see Information        Management Service Description).

The caller may also choose to actively provide the target with moreinformation, for pre-answer i.e. entering a call subject, or using flagsto indicate whether the communication as ‘Urgent’, or ‘Chat’ etc. Thisexpanded on in the next section.

Pre-Answer

Current Stories:

-   -   1. Sarah is in a meeting but has emailed Clive asking him to        ring her with some information. She would be willing to accept        the call should it occur during the meeting. Sarah's mobile        rings during the meeting and she can see that it is Clive. She        excuses herself from the meeting and accepts the call. When she        speaks to Clive it transpires that he hasn't received her query        yet, he was simply calling to see if she would be joining the        rest of the team in the pub later.    -   2. Richard is in a meeting and his mobile rings; the caller ID        indicates that it is his wife, Judy. She usually rings him at        the office during the day just for a quick chat, so he decides        to bump her call to VoiceMail and get back to her when he has        finished the meeting. Judy is upset as their son's school has        just phoned asking them to come in to see them that evening; she        is forced to leave him a message telling him that she needs to        talk to him a.s.a.p. Richard leaves the meeting an hour later        and finds the distressed message calls Judy back immediately.

Pre-Answer means that when a call comes in, the target can see theVirtual Presence of the caller. By flagging a call as urgent or simplyallowing the text message to come through Richard would have realisedthe significance of the call and probably chosen to take it, whereas inSarah's case she may have chosen to ‘bump’ the call to voicemail as itwas purely social.

Pre-Answer may include any of the following types of information inaddition to the fun, Avatar type visualisation discussed in a previoussection.

-   -   Name of the caller.    -   Location of the caller.    -   Mood Status of the caller—this may in itself provide clues about        the reason for the call, i.e. ‘Partying’, ‘Working’. The more        that callers customise their Virtual Presence the more        meaningful the information to the caller i.e. ‘Out Clubbing’,        ‘In Meeting’ etc.    -   Specific subject/status information—this may have been        specifically entered by the caller to help the target or have        selected it from a pre-canned list i.e. ‘Urgent’, ‘Chat’, ‘Work’        etc. It could also be gleaned from PIM/Smart data, i.e. if the        call is initiated from within a specific text message or from a        calendar entry—the first few words could be visible to the        target. The extent to which the caller will bother to provide        such information is dependent upon both the personality of the        individual caller but also the ease with which such information        could be added.

Supporting Information:

-   -   Doodles—written by the caller on a previous occasion regarding        this caller—i.e. “daughters birthday”, “remember to ask x” etc.        (see Doodles).    -   View previous communications with the target (see Information        Management).

The target is not only in a better position to choose whether to acceptthe call but to decide the way in which they accept the call. Forexample, they may choose to screen the call—listening to the messagebeing left on their VoiceMail (See Call Screening Service Description)and then decide whether to answer or not. They may choose to put thecall on Hold initially (See Hold Service Description) so that they canget into an appropriate location to answer the call or so that they canview/listen to their own Doodle prior to taking the call so that theyare better prepared for the call. They may simply answer or ignore thecall as currently.

Convert To Text

Currently when a call is received the caller can do one of three things:accept the call; forward the call to VoiceMail or let the mobile ringout and automatically forward to VoiceMail. Alternatively, if the mobileis off or out of range then the caller is automatically forwarded toVoiceMail. In all but one case the communication ends even though theremay be various reasons for not taking the call, i.e. a noisy pub or in awork meeting.

Convert To Text offers the target the ability to manage the manner inwhich other people contact them. This may take the spontaneous/reactiveroute whereby during Pre-Call the target indicates to the caller that atext communication is preferable. Alternatively it may be that thetarget puts their mobile into a ‘Text only’ Mood because they know theyare going to be in a meeting or in a noisy pub etc. Hence, a callershould then contact them via text or, if they go ahead despite thepre-call message and place a voice call, then the target canautomatically respond by inviting the caller to participate in textcommunication.

Current Stories:

-   -   1. Bill is in a club with his friends. His girlfriend, Michelle,        phoned him earlier to say that her train is running late and        that she will be later than planned. She has agreed to call him        when she arrives at the station so that he knows when to look        out for her. The club is typically noisy and when Michelle        phones, Bill repeatedly has to shout that he can't hear what she        is saying. In the end he has to run to the cloakroom, stick a        finger in one ear and try again.    -   2. Tony is on the train home and his wife calls him, as always,        to determine what time to meet him at the station from work. On        occasions people ‘tut’ at him or frown at the noise from his        conversation and just occasionally he gets a bit of an earful        from his wife about the fact that he is running late, and he        then has to go into a lengthy explanation, something that he        would rather not do in front of a crowded train. Regardless, he        needs to tell her when he is leaving so that she can be at the        station to pick him up.

By being able to switch an incoming call to text (Story 1) the targetcan take the call in a way that suits them. Alternatively byautomatically putting the phone into a Mood whereby the caller can seethat they would prefer to be contacted by text, the communication canautomatically commence in the format suited to the target (Story 2). Theaddition of Location information as part of the Virtual Presence mayeven provide sufficient information to remove the need for thecommunication (Story 2).

Call Screening

Users already screen messages as they are being left on land lineanswering machines. This service replicates that functionality on themobile. The user is able to listen in on a VoiceMail as it is being leftand can interrupt and take the call or to stop listening and let thecaller continue to leave a VoiceMail. In addition, poor and non-existentmobile coverage is highly irritating for both the user when downloadingmaterial to the device or when listening to VoiceMail. Text messages aresent to the mobile when there is sufficient coverage: the same could bethe case for VoiceMail enabling the user to listen to messages even whencoverage is intermittent.

Current Stories:

-   -   1. George is sat in an important meeting when his mobile        vibrates. He can see that it is his son Thomas ringing. He is        unsure about the importance of the call but as he knows that        Thomas should be on his way home from school he thinks that he        ought to take the call, just in case. George excuses himself        from the meeting and takes the call only to find that Thomas is        calling simply to tell him that he scored two goals during        football practise. George has to cut his child short and returns        sheepishly to the meeting.

Ideally George would be able to start listening to the call, decide thatit is better to speak to his child later when he can dedicate his fullattention to the him.

Hold and Mute

As mobiles can be used practically anywhere and people are increasinglyunwilling to turn them off, it is not uncommon to hear a mobile ringingin meetings or a restaurant or cinema etc. Occasions when it isinappropriate to some targets and certainly inappropriate for the peoplearound them. Nor is it unusual for it to ring just at the wrong momenti.e. when ‘working from home’ just as the shop public address pages amember of staff. Our research has shown that people frequently concealthe truth about where they really are. Trying to take a call when in anawkward situation frequently results in one of two activities “Hang onI'll call you back in one minute” or the target continuing the call andthen proceeding to give the caller a running commentary of their anticswhile trying to get to a convenient location to take the call. Userswant to be able to mute the audio of their handset while still beingable to hear the call, or place the call on Hold initially before theyaccept it so that they can get into a location convenient to start thecall. This could be easily activated in the same way as Hold iscurrently activated once in a call, i.e. using a prolonged press of thecall answer button or double clicks of the call answer button etc.

A progression from putting a call on Hold is changing the communicationmechanism to one that is appropriate i.e. text (see Convert To TextService Description).

Current Stories:

-   -   1. Tom is on the train in a quiet carriage. He doesn't like        taking calls in public areas like this, as he feels it is        inconsiderate. On this occasion he forgot to turn his mobile off        and when it rings he is mortified and frantically hunts through        his pockets to locate his mobile and “bump” the call. As he        pulls it out of his pocket he can see that it is his wife        calling. He wants to take the call but does not want to shout in        the train carriage. He answers the call so that she doesn't get        bumped to VoiceMail, but then has to start the conversation with        “hang on I'm just having to move so I can talk to you” followed        by several minutes of fumbling and apologies to fellow        passengers while he climbs over them to get to the end of the        carriage.    -   2. Richard is supposed to be working at home, against a        deadline. He has decided to take a break and go to Tesco's for        some grocery shopping. Whilst in the shop, his phone rings and        the caller ID indicates that it is his boss. Richard reluctantly        answers the phone and quickly answers his boss' questions,        hoping that his boss will not hear the other shoppers in the        background. Suddenly, a staff announcement is made and Richard        has to cover the phone's microphone so that his boss does not        hear the announcement. The call ends, with Richard still        wondering if his boss has figured out where Richard was.

In both scenarios, a ‘Hold and Mute’ function would have been farpreferable.

Asynchronous Communication

Voice Messaging

Asynchronous behaviour is already a significant part of user's mobilebehaviour. The ease with which verbal messages can be created means thatit is a natural extension of the text messaging behaviour. The usershould be able to create voice messages and send these directly toanother person's VoiceMail without the caller being any more aware thatthis has happened than is currently the case with text messaging.

It should also be possible to simply change data from one medium toanother. (i.e. a voice note into an text message, a Doodle into an textmessage etc.). Data should be independent of the mechanism by which itis delivered: Doodles, text or voice recordings can in the rightsituations form appropriate content for personal notes or the content ofmessages to others.

The teen market view SMS as an ideal way of communicating with theirfriends. Communicating via text is for them a means of communicating inprivate (something which can otherwise be difficult both at home andschool) and voice SMS will enhance the speed with which they can dothis. The need for privacy rather than speed is likely to be thedetermining factor when people are choosing between text or voice as thecreation mechanism.

Current Stories:

-   -   1. Susan is on her way out of the house when she remembers that        she needs to call her mother to and confirm dates for her visit.        She is in a rush and knows that if she calls it will be        difficult to keep the call short. On this occasion Susan decides        not to make the call.

If she had been able to simply record a quick message to her mother, shewould have removed the worry of forgetting to pass the information onand would be able to make a more leisurely call at her convenience.‘Urban Socialites’ particularly want to be able to off-load informationat a time convenient to them. At present they may leave making the calluntil they know it is not likely to be answered or may simply avoidcalling all together.

Doodles

It is not uncommon to make a call and on ending the call to remembersomething else that you wanted to mention. Depending on the person youhave just called you may choose to call them back and continue theconversation. However there are factors (such as time, status of theperson being called, whether or not you will get the same person thenext time you call (i.e. a call centre), personal confidence etc.) whichdetermine whether or not it is a good idea to call again immediately.Similarly, when in the middle of a call it is not uncommon to see peoplescribbling notes or doodling on the back of a nearby envelope. These areactivities that may or may not be connected to the call itself. Somepeople claim to “think” better if they are doodling aimlessly at thesame time as talking. Information exchange is a common reason for acall, and in some instances this may result in information that ideallythey want to record in some way.

As headsets, particularly Bluetooth headsets arrive, the need for themobile telephone to be held to the ear is removed. This frees up theinterface of the screen for services that will enhance the callexperience. Doodles offer the user the ability to associate data with acommunication. At present users employ a number of techniques such assending themselves text messages as reminders or sticking adhesive notesto the phone, such processes assume that i) the user remembers to lookat text reminders and ii) that the note is still stuck there.

By associating the Doodle with the communication, i.e. the Contact,(ideally converting voice to text—unless operating with a headset) itwould be possible to have reminders as part of Pre-Call and Pre-Answer.It should also be possible to view and add to the Doodles while the callis in progress, replacing the need for a notepad.

Adhesive notes are often left on a colleague's desk or are left aroundat home for other members of the family. They are either for theexclusive benefit of the other person (i.e. “your mother called at 3:30pm”), or for the use of both (i.e. “run out of milk and bread”). Itshould therefore be possible to send Doodles to other people (e.g.converting them to text messages). The difference to just sending anormal text message is that you can retain a copy and the appropriate“linking” of that Doodle if so desired. It should also be possible toshare a Doodle with other people. Doodles can be voice as well as textand could ultimately be multimedia.

Current Stories:

-   -   1. John has been trying to get through to his bank for a number        of hours. He has a couple of queries for them. While in a cafe        for his lunch break he decides to try again. It is only after he        has started the call that he realises that the adhesive note he        wrote to himself is back on his desk. The bank answers and he        gets answers to two of his queries, he knows there was a third        question but he can't remember for the life of him what it is.        After a few embarrassing moments of dithering he knows he is not        going to remember the third point and he ends the call knowing        that he will have to call the bank again later.    -   2. Matthew is in the pub with friends when he remembers he had        intended phoning his sister Joanna to ask for the mobile number        of the restaurant that she had recommended he take his        girlfriend to. Matthew is standing outside the pub entrance        where it is quieter and makes the call to Joanna. Joanna tells        him the mobile number and Matthew repeats it hoping that he will        be able to remember it until he gets back to the table where he        can shred a beer mat and write the number on it for use later.    -   3. Tom and Sally are having friends round to dinner in the        evening. Whoever gets home first needs to pop round to the        corner shop to pick up a few last minute ingredients. They leave        an adhesive note at home so that whoever gets in first can take        it back out with them. On his way home, Tom passes a convenience        shop and thinks that he can remember all the ingredients.        However, he doesn't know a) whether Sally is home already and        has therefore bought the ingredients already, b) that he has        really remembered everything.

Being able to capture information on the mobile (either through voice ortext—the former being preferable) enables users to transfer behavioursthat they can easily do currently on a landline where paper and pens arelikely to be at hand. In this instance however they can carry this datawith them in the form of a Doodle without risk of loss (unless themobile itself is stolen too) and can even be associated with otherinformation.

In the last Story Tom could: use the Virtual Presence to determineSally's whereabouts, phone her to check whether she has bought theingredients or more conveniently look at the shared list and see whethershe has added a comment showing that she has bought everything already.

Conventional applications such as Jotter and Notes provide the user witha mechanism for making notes in support of call activities. However,this relies on the user remembering that this note has been made and itrequires them navigating to it in a timely fashion for the call. Theadvantage of Doodles is that the information can be created anywhere andassociated within any relevant location. This may occur in one of twoways:

-   -   1. Automatically—creating a Doodle while in a contact detail        view could associate that with that particular contact such that        should that contact be accessed in the future the Doodle will        automatically appear too.    -   2. User choice—the user may create the Doodle in one application        and choose to save it to another association, for example a        Doodle created during a call could automatically associate it        with that contact; alternatively the user could choose to save        it in the to-do list or as part of a calendar entry as a        reminder.

In either case, establishing links ensures that the data is availablewhen it is needed. As in the case of Scenario 1, the caller canassociate the questions for the banker with the banks call centredetails, he can add to these during the call and retain a far motedetailed record of the call (and all in the same location). Note: Datacaptured in this way may form part of another piece of device data, i.e.if as a result of the call to the call centre John has arranged anappointment with a bank manager, the notes made during the call couldbecome associated with the calendar entry also so that he has all theinformation at his finger tips without having to hunt around for it. Inaddition a Doodle may simply be a link to data elsewhere on the device.To the user it appears as a Doodle but actually it is content that hasbeen flagged in another location i.e. the content of an email, or thesection of a document etc.

In the same way that a user can have layers of physical adhesive notesoverlapping and linking to each other in a physical manner, the same isthe case for the electronic equivalent. Doodle can be linked to form amontage.

In addition, the advent of the Bluetooth headset increasingly frees upthe devices' interface for such activities such that the use of Doodlesis viable not only prior to a call but also during it: Doodles can beplayed as calls come in if the user Pauses the call prior to speaking tothe caller.

While Doodles have a key user benefit for the person creating them,there is also the flip side of the behaviour in that they are oftengiven to other people. For example in Scenario 2, Doodle would haveenabled Matthew to create an electronic record of the number as Joannagave it to him. However they would also enable Joanna to help him out,i.e. by sending him a Doodle which not only contained the informationbut also an association information that it came from her. At whichpoint Matthew would be able to choose to either leave the informationassociated with his sister or make it into a contact entry in it's ownright. (Clearly she could simply send him an SMS without theassociation. In some instances this is more appropriate though forexample a colleague sending a Doodle reminding the caller to bring adocument to the next meeting could be usefully associated with theactual meeting in question).

The ability to share Doodles requires the hosting of the data in acentral location rather on the device in order to prevent conflicts whendata is being updated by either party. The underlying premise of ashared Doodle is that it is available to both at all times and that bothparties can edit it: it is not necessary for either to own it.

Play/Pause/Reply to VoiceMail

Currently the extent to which users can interact with their VoiceMail isalong the lines of playing the messages and deleting them and settingpreferences for how VoiceMail notifies the user of messages waiting.Ideally VoiceMail should enable the user to play individual messages,pause them and enable them to carry out tasks as a result of individualVoiceMails without having to listen to the whole lot again. At presentlistening to a succession of VoiceMails requires paper and pen, goodcoverage and patience.

APPENDIX I Other Service Descriptions

Picture Messaging

This relates to the ability to send and receive (and create) visualmessages—graphics or photographs. While in the first instance simplybeing able to download pictures from the web onto the device and sendthese as images within a text message is sufficient, it is increasinglylikely that users will want to take pictures and draw their own. To thenbe able to make additions and alterations to existing images andphotographs and to attach sound bites to them is essential. While thereare clear work contexts for such a service, use in the social context islikely to be wide spread and given the often superficial nature of manytext messages currently it is fair to assume that the use of pictureswill follow a similar line and the ability to annotate these willpossibly enhance this.

EvolvIcons

The ability to present Moods in the virtual space lends itself to thedevelopment of applications which can build on the user's avatars andenable them to develop emotions as well as simply personal animations,sound and graphics.

Being able to send emotions as well as pictures, sounds etc. counteractssome of the sterility of such static communications as text messages. Inthe first instance being able to annotate and doodle over images andphotographs which are being sent to other people is fun, but being ableto attach meaning to these of a non textual nature is even moreaesthetically compelling.

Applications which can reflect the relationships with contacts in theuser's phone facilitate the development of not only emotional messagesas described above but also in the extension of the Moods idea in thatPre-Call and Pre-Answer data can grow as the relationship grows and canbe customised on an individual level. People customise the InstantMessaging Presence dependent upon who can see that presence information.It is likely that people will also spend time customising their VirtualPresence for key individuals.

Information Management

The mobile already holds a significant amount of information. Itcontains all the contact information and some devices enable theinclusion of additional textual information, including the text messagesand email messages received to and sent from the mobile telephone.

As mobile functionality increases the amount of information that can bemade available is potentially huge. In certain circumstances thisinformation can be of value to the user prior to or during a call. Theall inclusive term Information Management may include:

-   -   Communications to and from the Contact.    -   Number of calls and the cost of the calls to the Contact.    -   Meeting entries associated with that Contact.    -   The last communication with a contact.    -   The next meeting scheduled with a contact.    -   The agenda for the last meeting with a specific group.

So providing the user with the ability to use and search this data canprovide them with far more information in their communications. Thepresentation of such information is system initiated in the case ofPre-Call but user initiated during a call.

Ring Back

If when a call has been placed, and the caller is already in anothercall, the caller can initiate Ring Back which offers the ability tospecify that when the line becomes free a call between the two partiesshould be automatically initiated. This replicates functionality alreadyavailable on land lines.

If via Pre-Call the caller can see that the caller is currently on themobile, the caller can initiate Ring Back without needing to first placethe call.

APPENDIX II

Presence: Architecture Aspects

The realisation of a Presence/Voice++ system will require anarchitecture for instant messaging and presence awareness/notificationwhich includes: a concept of identity, authentication, access control,encryption, message integrity and shared content.

Identity

Clearly, identity is essential: individuals will use several devices ofdifferent types, and capabilities, requiring an effective and efficientaddressing system to handle and simplify the multitude of emailaddresses, phone numbers and www-addresses for individuals, groups andorganisations. This may also necessitate some form of classification ofthe basic modes of communication to help define the basic requirementsfor applications, devices and service providers. Importantly,individuals may wish to assume several different ‘Identities’, forcommunicating within different contexts.

Actor/Personae

An Actor has 1 to n Personae through which they communicate with otherActors. i.e. communication is Persona-to-Persona based rather thanActor-to Actor based.

The Actor ‘owns’ the data/information/files in its Personal Universe butprovides restricted views/access to it through their set of Personae.

In addition, each Persona has values for a set of Persona-basedattributes associated with it (e.g. Nickname, font for chatting, iconfor Avatar, etc. as well as a Persona Personal File containing their‘history’—schools, hobbies, clubs, likes, dislikes etc.)—this must beextensible so that communities of Personae may be set up, eachcontaining their own distinct community-based information—e.g. amulti-user game which requires Persona to have certain attribute/valuepairings for such things as Strength, Agility, Life, Bullets, etc.

Each Persona is uniquely identifiable such that it can act in end to endcommunications. This should not be device specific as the ID provides ameans of communicating with the Persona not the method. Initially userswill be given choice of communication methods (phone, email (work/home)etc.) and will make the appropriate choice given the set of presence andavailability information. Later systems may route a message (withappropriate translations—voice/text text/voice etc) to the appropriatedevice depending on the availability policies set up by an individual.

-   -   It is the Personae that appear in Directory LookUp services.    -   Each Persona has its own Presence Information.    -   One persona is the Master Persona that is the true        representation of the Actor. This may be an authenticated/signed        persona.    -   A Persona may be anonymous.        Presence

In its basic form Presence enables people to communicate with each otherin the most appropriate and timely fashion. It should be possible forthis presence information to be refined with levels of availability(e.g. ‘away from device but back soon’, ‘do not disturb’, etc.). Some ofthese refinements should be understood by the software so that theybehave in appropriate ways while others may simply be displayed to otherclients in a human readable form for them to decide how to respond.

An Actor should not need to maintain presence information at all timeson all known contacts. Instead they should maintain a ‘buddy list’ withtheir favourite contacts. Presence information can be maintained by‘subscription’ whereby changes are pushed to interested parties orreturned when specifically requested (by a ‘watcher’ or ‘poller’). AnActor may only want subscriptions to be possible to selected otherActors/Personae.

Presence information comprises dynamic information such as location andavailability, etc., which typically has expiration data that needs to beenforced. Initially, at least, availability will be inferred from therecipient's published mood and the status of the device.

Availability

-   -   A property of a Persona denoting its ability and willingness to        share information about itself or to communicate with another        Persona based on factors such as:        -   the type of communication requested;        -   device availability and status (out of coverage, downloading            data, etc.)        -   the identity of the calling Persona;        -   the mood of the recipient;        -   the preferences and policies that are associated with the            recipient.

Mood

-   -   A setting which allows the user to provide an indication of        their state of mind. This is likely to provide not only their        state of mind but an indication of their availability and a        preference for how they want to be contacted. I.e. If ‘Angry’        and ‘Busy’ the user may have specified that this means they are        only available for chatting in text form.

Location

-   -   GPS (absolute and translated).    -   Bluetooth Pods in offices etc.    -   Text (e.g. ‘Down the White Horse’).

Architecture

-   -   Client/Server.    -   An Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP) Server holds master        copies of Presence information and other Personal Data (Personal        Universe).    -   Personal data could include such things as: MP3 files; photos;        credit card details; DoB and other auto from fill stuff; medical        records; Agenda; Public PGP key, etc. i.e. file, record and        transaction based shared content.    -   The server listens for client connections and communicates        directly with clients and other servers.    -   The server also handles: data storage, user authentication,        directory lookups (e.g. LDAP) and Rosters, etc.    -   The client communicates with the IMP server, parses and        interprets well-formed XML packets and understands message data        types.    -   Each Actor and their set of Personae is associated with a single        server which receives information for them and from them.    -   Clients make a single connection to their server over which all        communication exists.    -   Distributed communication happens client→server        [→server]→client.    -   The servers transfer messages and presence information between        themselves and, with the appropriate interoperability standards        in place (e.g. SIMPLE), with other external IM and presence        systems too.    -   When a Persona's Presence or other Personal Data changes (either        explicitly by the Persona, or implicitly by, for example, a        timeout, the IMP server is updated.    -   For Presence information this may be very simple in the first        instance, aided by a set of profiles for ease of use, or an        enumerated set for programmatic processing plus a text field for        additional information.    -   Individuals hold cached copies of other's Presence information        (and other information—probably more static in nature). This is        just for Buddies but may wish to view available public presence        information on anyone: Anonymous Presence Request.    -   When a buddy's presence information or Personal Data changes,        and if they are permitted to access the particular data that has        changed, and if they have subscribed to that data, they are        informed. The changes will either be pushed or pulled depending        on subscription model. Pushed changes will be immediate whereas        pulled changes will be retrieved when the server is next polled.        Could force a push.    -   The Presence Data could be time-stamped with when the        information was last updated.

Data Format/Protocols

-   -   Client/Server protocol (preferably an open XML-based standard).        Used for client-server, server-client and server-server        communication (session initiation, modification and        termination).    -   Server-to-server protocol—could be proprietary between        homogenous systems but will probably be SIP/SIMPLE for        interoperability between heterogeneous systems.    -   Data representation protocol: a fundamental requirement of the        architecture is that it must be extensible. As such, an open        XML-based standard protocol should be used for        packaging/transporting data (IM, presence data and personal        information). The protocol should use XML Namespaces to        encapsulate other kinds of data sent, allowing any client,        server, transport, or any component of the architecture to build        custom applications by including their own XML data within their        namespace. Could be SOAP.

Messaging

-   -   Messaging is essentially the sending of some data from one        Persona to another. The data is not restricted to text, but may        be any well-formed data that can be recognised by clients        including text, voice, multimedia, Presence Information, etc.    -   Common standards for these data types coupled with a common        standard for their transfer (described above) will greatly ease        the development, roll-out and adoption of data services and        applications that build upon this architecture.    -   One application of this is Instant Messaging, which will be        enhanced by both the richer Presence Information available and        the support for other more complex data types over and above the        simple text of current systems.    -   Not just person to person messaging: application to application        messaging will also be possible, possibly using SOAP.    -   The inherent extensibility of the architecture will allow new        data formats to be supported.        Security and Privacy

Privacy

-   -   White Pages should be an opt-in subscription model, allowing the        user the choice of whether or not to publish their information.    -   The use of server and client-side filters would give users the        ability to deny communications by user, domain, message type, or        content, etc.

Authentication:

-   -   Simple username/password system.    -   Digest authentication.    -   Digital signatures.    -   PKI

Encryption

-   -   PGP or S/MIME . . . authentication is a must but encryption,        although provided, should be optional—user does not have to use        the feature.

Secure Connections

-   -   SSL (Secure Socket Layer) can be used to create a secure        connection between the client and the IMP Server to ensure that        usernames, passwords and messages cannot be intercepted.    -   IPSec

Transports

-   -   Protocols should be transport-independent: HTTP, WAP, SMS/MMS,        etc. . . .

Namespace & Addressing

-   -   Globally Unique ID    -   Or Domain-based: node@domain.com. Example:        MyPersona@indirect.com

Directories and User Management

-   -   Along with a flexible messaging and presence system, an        XML-based directory should be provided.    -   As to account management, the server by default will allow every        user to have full control over the creation of and management of        their account. This includes passwords, and all presence,        personal data and messaging aspects. Server administrators have        full control over the rights allotted to each account, and can        remove or limit those at any time.        PreAnswer.

Using the architecture described above current GSM Systems could supportsome form of Pre Answer:

Post

-   -   1. Before calling, a caller posts Caller Information onto the        server (using, for example, SMS);    -   2. The caller then makes the call. Before it rings, the Callee's        phone makes a data call to the server and requests ‘all        Information’ for the Calling ‘Persona’.    -   3. This is then displayed, and the phone rings.

However, as well as being burdensome and particularly prone to latencyproblems, it has security implications as well—how to restrict only theCallee from accessing the Call information.

Supply

Another method would be to simply ‘handshake’ using messages (SMS, EMS,or MMS) to carry ‘Pre Answer’ information payload (based on a standardfor such data).

-   -   1. To initiate a call, a caller sends the Callee a ‘Pre Answer’        message that the Callee's device recognises.    -   2. On reciept, the Callee's device alerts the Callee and        displays the ‘Pre Answer’ information. The Callee can chose to        ignore, accept or return a message.    -   3. If the Callee wishes to accept, then a return ‘Accept’        message is returned which the Caller's device recognises and        promptly initiates a phone call to the Callee.

This is also burdensome and prone to latency problems, though not asstark as in the previous solution.

However, networks are moving towards wholly IP-based infrastructures andthe adoption of the SIMPLE (SIP for Instant Messaging and PresenceLeveraging Extensions) protocol as the standard interoperabilityprotocol and the widespread support it enjoys (from, for example, AOLand Microsoft) may accelerate the process. This will provide an idealinfrastructure for rolling out such features as Pre Answer, the abilityto move seamlessly from one type of session to another (data to voicefor example), establishing conference calls, and so on.

In such an environment, and assuming SIP/SIMPLE and the architecturedescribed above:

-   -   1. The caller would establish a communications session with the        desired party. Initiating a session simply requires determining        where on the network an invited party is at a particular moment        (using the policies/mechanisms described above). Once the        invited party is located, SIP delivers a description of the        session (which among other data, includes the type of session        desired, in this case ‘Voice’, and the ‘Pre Answer’ information)        to which the person is being invited. The most common protocol        used to describe sessions is the SDP (Session Description        Protocol), described in RFC2327.    -   2. Once the person is located and the session description is        delivered, SIP is used to convey the response to the session        invitation (accept/reject). If accepted, the (voice) session        becomes active.    -   3. SIP can be used to modify the session (e.g. switch to video,        or data).    -   4. Finally, SIP can be used to terminate the session.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. A method of communicating between wirelessinformation devices in which: (a) a caller using a first wirelessinformation device enters or selects information specific either (i) tothe caller or (ii) to an intended voice call to a potential calledparty, in either case the information being of a transient or temporarykind; the information being entered into the device or selected usingthe device prior to dialing the voice call; (b) presence data isgenerated for or posted by the potential called party, the presence databeing selected from the following group of different kinds of presencedata: (i) data defining a mood of the potential called party; (ii) datadefining a current activity of the potential called party; (iii) datadefining a current kind of activity of the potential called party; (iv)data defining a desired future activity or situation of the potentialcalled party; (v) data defining a desired future kind of activity orsituation of the potential called party; (vi) data derived from acalendar application for the potential called party; (vii) data defininga location of the potential called party; (viii) data defining apreferred communication mechanism to communicate with the potentialcalled party; (ix) data defining whether the potential called party canor cannot be disturbed; (x) data defining whether the potential calledparty is in or out of the office. (c) the presence data is received bythe first device to provide the caller with the presence data associatedwith the potential called party; and (d) the information is sent fromthe first device to a second wireless information device used by thecalled party, in order to provide that information to the called partyprior to the voice call being accepted, a ringing or other kind of voicecall alert accompanying the display of the information on the seconddevice.
 15. The method of claim 14 in which the called party can electnot to proceed to accept a voice call and is then automatically providedwith an option to exchange data messages with the caller.
 16. The methodof claim 14 in which the first device posts the information onto adatabase which is readable by any person to whom the caller has givenappropriate access rights.
 17. The method of claim 16 in which thedatabase is hosted on a web server.
 18. The method of claim 14 in whichthe information is sent as data prior to a voice channel being opened.19. The method of claim 18 in which the information is sent as SMS,Smart Message or a data packet data prior to the voice channel beingopened.
 20. The method of claim 14 in which the information includes oneor more of the following: (a) a mood; (b) a current activity; (c) a partor whole of a schedule of meetings or events; (d) information about thesubject of an intended voice call; (e) information about the urgency ofan intended voce call; (f) information about the likely duration of atelephone call; (e) personal information; (g) location information; (h)graphics or icons; (i) commercial inducements to answer a call.
 21. Themethod of claim 14 in which the information is a customizable personalavatar, graphically representing a user.
 22. The method of claim 14 inwhich an alert is sent to a caller when the presence data alters in away defined by the caller.
 23. The method of claim 14 in which the callrecipient sets a first device so that it does not receive voice callsand a caller with override rights defined by the call recipient canoverride that setting so that the first device does receive a voice callfrom that caller.
 24. A wireless information device programmed to: (a)enable a caller using the device to enter or select information eitherspecific (i) to the caller or (ii) to an intended voice call to apotential called party, in either case the information being of atransient or temporary kind, the information being entered into thedevice or selected using the device prior to dialing the voice call; (b)display presence data relating to the potential called party, thepresence data having been generated for or posted by the potentialcalled party, the presence data being selected from the following groupof different kinds of presence data: (i) data defining a mood of thepotential called party; (ii) data defining a current activity of thepotential called party; (iii) data defining a current kind of activityof the potential called party; (iv) data defining a desired futureactivity or situation of the potential called party; (v) data defining adesired future kind of activity or situation of the potential calledparty; (vi) data derived from a calendar application for the potentialcalled party; (vii) data defining a location of the potential calledparty; (viii) data defining a preferred communication mechanism tocommunicate with the potential called party; (ix) data defining whetherthe potential called party can or cannot be disturbed; (x) data definingwhether the potential called party is in or out of the office. (c) sendthe information to a potential called party in order to provide thatinformation prior to the voice call being accepted.
 25. The device ofclaim 24 in which, if the called party elects not to proceed to accept avoice call from the device and then automatically sends a data messageto the device, the device is then programmed to terminate the potentialvoice call and instead allow the caller to automatically respond to thatdata message with a data message.
 26. The device of claim 24 programmedto post the information onto a database which is readable by any personto whom the caller has given appropriate access rights.
 27. The deviceof claim 26 in which the database is hosted on a web server.
 28. Thedevice of claim 24 in which the information is sent as data prior to avoice channel being opened.
 29. The device of claim 28 in which theinformation is sent as SMS, Smart Message or a data packet data prior tothe voice channel being opened.
 30. The device of claim 24 in which theinformation includes one or more of the following: (a) a mood; (b) acurrent activity; (c) a part or whole of a schedule of meetings orevents; (d) information about the subject of an intended voice call; (e)information about the urgency of an intended voice call; (f) informationabout the likely duration of a telephone call; (e) personal information;(g) location information; (h) graphics or icons; (i) commercialinducements to answer a call.
 31. The device of claim 24 in which theinformation is a customizable personal avatar, graphically representinga user.
 32. The device of claim 24 programmed to receive an alert whenthe presence data alters in a way defined by the caller.
 33. The deviceof claim 24 in which the call recipient sets a further device so that itdoes not receive voice calls and a device with override rights definedby the call